Fifty years ago on Friday, Enoch Powell, a Conservative Member of Parliament and then Opposition spokesperson on defence, stood before an audience at the Midland Hotel in Birmingham to deliver a speech whose shadow has continued to hover over Britain. He did not use the words “rivers of blood” — the name most commonly attributed to the speech — but his chilling attack on post-war immigration, support for those who continued to back racial divisions, warnings of future racial strife and of being “filled with foreboding like a Roman: seeing the River Tiber foaming with much blood” make it is easy to see why that name stuck.
The speech came just over two weeks after the assassination of U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King, and as the Labour government prepared to bring in the Race Relations Act of 1968, which would make it illegal to discriminate against people when it came to housing, employment, education, health or other public services.
The speech, which advocated a toughening up of Britain’s immigration regime and the introduction of a voluntary scheme of repatriation, made no acknowledgment of the postWar policies of Britain that had seen thousands of Commonwealth citizens fill key roles in the workforce in response to labour shortages, and sought to feed into growing paranoia in some sections of society about immigrants.
At the same time, the speech had the inflammatory impact that Powell had likely intended. While forcing him to resign from his place on the Opposition front-bench, his speech raised racial tensions, particularly around the West Midlands, home to a burgeoning immigrant community. Riots followed, while newspapers reported a surge in violence against ethnic minorities, with attackers on occasion invoking Powell’s name.
Lauded by far-right
Five decades on, the speech continues to haunt Britain. It’s lauded by some on the far-right. Last weekend, the BBC was forced to defend itself for running the speech read out in full by an actor, punctuated by commentary and analysis from across the political spectrum. A report published earlier this month by think tank British Future suggested that things had moved on considerably since Powell’s day, noting that the vast majority (75%) would be comfortable with inter-racial marriage in their family, and working in a diverse workforce (90%). Just over 48% of the population were aware of Powell’s speech. Other indicators suggest many stark differences remain, not least a government audit last year that found vast discrepancies in the way individuals from different ethnic minority groups were treated when it came to public services.
This week, the treatment of Commonwealth immigrants came into particular focus, amid growing concern over the treatment of members of the so-called Windrush generation — individuals from the Caribbean who came to the U.K. between the late 1940s and early 1970s, many as children, before U.K. legislation no longer gave Commonwealth citizens the automatic right to reside in Britain.
Recent toughening up of immigration requirements has resulted in some being denied access to public services and threatened with deportation, or even deported, despite them holding British citizenship. “Let us be very clear about what’s happening. The government wants to create a hostile environment for migrants. This isn’t a design flaw, it’s central to their programme,” warned Caroline Lucas, leader of the Green Party.
Vidya Ram works for The Hindu and is based in London
